Genre 6: Fiction, Fantasy and Young Adult

Book # 1




Bibliography:
DiCamillo, Kate. Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, illustrated by K.G. Campbell. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7363-6040-6

Characters and Plot:
Flora and her squirrel friend meet under very unique circumstances. Their relationship is even more remarkable as they go through many adventures. Both Flora, a cynical eleven year old avid reader of comic books, and Ulysses, a young squirrel, have suffered through rough times. Flora is going through the pains of being a child of divorced parents, while Ulysses has had to repeatedly dodge some very dangerous situations. In fact on the day of their acquaintance Flora tried to rescue Ulysses from a very powerful vacuum cleaner. She does help to get him dislodged from the machine and upon his release they find out that he has super squirrel strength. Strength enough to lift the cleaner right up over his head and thrust it away.

Flora recognizes from her comic book reading that this can only mean one thing. Ulysses is a superhero with special powers. Subsequently, Flora intends to be his sidekick and help him fulfill his destiny to save the helpless.  Their journey will take them on an illuminated adventure.  Along the way they will encounter new neighbor William Spiver and his great aunt Tootie, Flora's mother and father, as well as a very special friend found in Dr. Meescham. Finally, Ulysses has an arch nemesis which becomes the antagonist for all of the characters. Read to find out who the nemesis is and how antagonist is handled by the group.

Setting and Theme:
Many of the adventures take place in and around the home and city of Flora Buckman. Since Ulysses is a squirrel Flora's mother is worried that he might have disease and that people will think that she is weird for befriending a squirrel. Mrs. Buckman manages to separate the dynamic duo in the middle of the night and this adventure takes them through the forest and through the city streets in search of each other.  This final adventure will unite all of the characters in meaningful ways. The illustrations by K.G. Campbell enhance the story and the action filled scenes are presented in comic book style.

Style:
Readers will find out about shoe boxes and giant donuts, as well as, dumb lamps who pass judgement, and poetry. Luckily, Flora has read so many comic series and has all the tools to lead each adventure. She recalls many tips that were given in her comic books to avoid pitfalls and ultimate doom.

"Do not hope; instead, observe" was a piece of advice that appeared often in TERRIBLE THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! According to TERRIBLE THINGS!, hope sometimes got in the way of action. For instance, if you looked at your elderly aunt Edith choking... and you told yourself, Man I sure hope she is not choking, you would waste several valuable life saving, Heimlich maneuver-performing seconds. 

 Flora's father, George Buckman, is also well versed in the world of comic book superheros and provides great help along the way. He is quickly convinced of Ulysses' superhero status and is ready to assist.

Awards and Recognitons:
Kate DiCamillo was awarded the Newbery Medal for most distinguished contribution to American Literature for Children.  DiCamillo is the author of many books and has received another Newbery Medal for The Tale of Despereaux; the Boston Globe-Honor Book Award for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane; and the best-selling Mercy Watson series.

This book would well serve students in grades 4-6 for analyzing cause and effect. It would make for a good summer read for the 6th grade student as well.

Reviews for Flora and Ulysess: The Illuminated Adventures:

Original, touching and oh-so-funny tale starring an endearingly implausible superhero and a not-so-cynical girl.-Kirkus Review

Campbell's rounded and gentle soft-penciled illustrations, at times in the form of panel art furthering the action, wonderfully match and add to the sweetness of this oddball story.              -School Library Journal 

Book # 2

Bibliography:
Green, John.  Looking For Alaska. New York: Dutton Books, 2005.
ISBN: 0-525-47506-0

Characters and Plot:
Miles Halter is a new student who will attend his fathers Alma Mater at the Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama.  Miles was kind of an oddball type in his public school in Florida and takes on this academic adventure in search of the "Great Perhaps." He becomes quickly entangled in the teen drama of his room mate (the Colonel) and his cohort of regular boarders. The regulars have a common enemy in the rich, cool kids who go home every weekend and are called the Weekday Warriors.  An ongoing war of pranks has developed between these two groups and Miles quickly gets pulled into the mix. The adventure is made much better when he discovers Alaska Young, the most beautiful girl he has every seen, is the ring leader on his team.

The story begins when Miles (nicknamed Pudge) is taken by the Weekend Warriors and is punished with a twisted version of a common prank.  The plot to seek revenge quickly ensues as the gang of regulars bond through the semester by engaging in drinking, smoking, and plans of revenge. This all takes place in between the rigorous course work that the school requires of this group of intelligent teens. Another obstacle is to pull off their revenge without getting caught by the Dean of Students, aka The Eagle. Just when the group seems to have bonded in a real and meaningful way tragedy strikes.  Leaving the characters looking for a way "to get out of this labyrinth of suffering."

Setting and Theme:
There is a strong feel in the present, as the book was published in 2005, though it would seem more modern if the teens were more actively engaged in technology. The only phones that this boarding school had were the 5 pay phones located throughout the outdated campus. The school is located near the city of Birmingham. The teens are as connected to their families as most teenagers are, minimally, and Alaska has a very strained relationship with her only living parent (her father). There is a strong emphasis on education, since all the main characters are exceptionally intelligent, and the students seem happy when they are learning.  Any issues that the students have with their teachers and supervisors are typical among teens.

Style:
Plenty of colorful language is used throughout the book, as is typical of modern teenagers.
This excerpt is followed by a request from Pudge's favorite teacher to explain what is distracting him from instruction:

The Old Man, who obviously did not tolerate vocalized rambling, cut me off. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave class, Mr. Halter, so that you can go out there and discover um-trees and uh-forest. And tomorrow, when you are ready to take this class seriously, I will welcome you back."

To which Alaska responds, by allying with Pudge and stating to the teacher:

I'm sorry but that's bullshit. You can't just throw him out of class. You drone on and on for an hour every day, and we're not allowed to glance out the window? 

Being that they are highly intelligent the teens tend to have much deeper levels of contemplation and reflection.  The teens are highly philosophical, which is common among all teens, however these teens know the origins of popular philosophy. John Green gives equal play to his male and female characters as they both play crucial roles throughout the book.  What is particularly refreshing about this fact is that this is how realities play out in life. That is to say that all people play crucial roles in any situation not just male leads.

Gender and Culture:
The culture is uniquely centered teenagers who have very real struggles. The teenage girls in the book have very strong and confident characteristics.  The book deals with dangerous levels of experimentation with smoking and alcohol use. It also deals with the subject of suicide and recognizing behaviors associated with it. It does not condone these issues, instead it indicates that these are realities of life among teenagers today.

Awards and Recognitons:
Looking for Alaska is a 2005 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book. The book is currently being adapted for a feature length film.
Green has written many books for Young Adults including:
An Abundance of Katherines, 2006
Paper Towns, 2008
The Fault in Our Stars, 2012

This book would be an excellent read for high school students in ELA classes for a book report and would be a great subject for philosophical chairs.
Reviews for Looking for Alaska:

John Green has written a powerful novel-one that plunges headlong into the labyrinth of life, love, and the mysteries of being human. This is a book that will touch your life,..Stand up, and take a step into the Great Perhaps.

-K.L. Going, author of Fat Kid Rules the World, a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

What sings and soars in this gloriously told tale is John Green's mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge's voice.  -Kirkus Review

Book #3

Bibliography:
Hinds, Gareth. Beowulf, Illustrated by Gareth Hinds. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1999.
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3023-2

Characters and Plot:
Beowulf had grown tired of watching his countrymen, located in the Hall of Herot, experience terror at the hands of the demonic monster Grendel.  So he vows to battle, unarmed, the great beast and kill or be killed in the struggle to end the ruthless terror. He successfully disarms (literally) the beast, only to then be challenged by Grendel's mother. He meets the mothers challenge for revenge and again prevails. Beowulf later went on to govern the Geats for 50 years in rule and protection.  Until he meets his next great opposition, a mighty dragon. This time Beowulf will need the finest armor and a sword to combat the mammoth threat. Only this victory will be bitter sweet because he has already lost everything that mattered to him.

Setting and Theme:
This medieval tale has no known author however, the existence of the Danes and the Geats are well documented in history. Once Beowulf dies no other record of this lordship exists.  Gareth Hinds has adapted this famous story into a graphic novel which brilliantly alternates between text and graphic image. Some of the illustrated pages have text and others do not. The most graphic images tell the parts of the story with battle and conflict. In the original story, written in Old English, the theme reflects the time period of the Middle Ages in Europe which is carried out in Hinds' adaptation.

I am Beowulf, kinsman to the king Hygelac. Many deeds of note have I done in my life, and now the reports of the monster Grendel have brought me to your land.

Style:
Hinds, in the style of the graphic novel, tells much of the physical aspects of the story through illustrations which appeal to the beginning reader. This type of book appeals to both avid readers and those who enjoy reading only minimally because it is balanced in both image and word. The action scenes are sketched across two pages at a time and include dark coloring, which befits the dark theme of the time period.

Awards and Recognitons:
Gareth Hinds has created the artwork for Picture It @ your library, created by the American Library Association's YALSA  (Young Adult Library Services Association) in 2011. He also has a blog of his work and work that he admires.

This type of graphic novel is ideal for a lesson that combines ELA and art class together.

Reviews:

A first-rate horror yam...Hinds stages great fight scenes, choreographing them like a kung-fu master... Visceral.   -The New York Times Book Review

Gives young readers the Geatish warrior as the hypermuscular, hard-hitting proto-comic-book superhero he's always been... With treatments like this available, honors English may never be the same.  -Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 

Retells the old tale as a series of dark, bloody, chaotic clashes... A strongly atmospheric alternative. -Kirkus Reviews 

Genre 5: Historical Fiction

Book #1

Bibliography:

Erdrich, Louise. The Game of Silence. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. 

ISBN: 0-06-029789-1

1. Character and Plot:

Louise Erdrich has developed a story that centers around an amazing young girl named Omakayas. Her family of the Ojibwe  nation tribe, also known as Anishinabeg, has a great historical North American Indian tradition. The family has resided in the Great Lakes area of Lake Superior for many generations.  Omakayas along with father Deydey, mother Yellow Kettle, grandmother Nokomis, sister Angeline, and brother Pinch have a traditional and spiritual existence in their native lands. Many generations have taught them how to live off of and coexist with the flora and fauna of each season.  Their native practice and faith give them a special connection to their place on the earth that can not entirely be explained in words; however, Erdrich somehow captures the essence of this connection.  This is especially true when they are forced out of their home by the chimookomanag (white people) to their new home on a Wisconsin reservation in about the 1850's.

2. Setting and Theme:

Erdrich manages to create visuals and emotions through her writing that relate some of that special connection that the Anishinabeg had for their homelands.  This connection is especially clear when she describes grandmother's garden:

Nokomis's garden was very old. She had inherited it from her mother, who had inherited it from hers. The earth had grown rich from generations of careful replenishment.... But the garden was more than the space it occupied. Its seeds, too, had been handed down for many generations.

 Grandmother's special garden had seen this tribal village and their ancestors through many harsh seasons and bitterly cold winters. The family has a great respect, in true native tradition, for the elder Nokomis and her knowledge of the land and preservation of it. Throughout the book, the family will interact with the land as they move seasonally to the place where they camp in the summer near the water, to the fall rice camp, as well as their winter cabin which is located further from the frozen over lake. One other connection to the land  is exhibited in the rite of passage that all young tribal members must fulfill to connect with the spirits and find their unique gift.  In other tribal traditions this is called a vision quest and requires participation in isolation where they can become one with nature, by fasting and praying in traditional form.  

3. Style and Additional Criterion:

Louise Erdrich is herself a member of the Chippewa, Ojibwe nation.  Though she provides a complete glossary of Ojibwe terms used throughout the book, context clues are also provided each time that she uses them.  She adds an extra note, before the glossary, explaining that she used idiosyncratic spellings of words to assist in pronunciation. She also provides a source to A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe, by John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm for a more in-depth reference of the language and spellings.  

4. Awards and Recognition:

Louise Erdrich is a New York Times Best Selling Author who has been awarded for novels written for adults and children. The Game of Silence was a sequel to The Birchbark House with Omakayas as the central character as well.
Love Medicine- National Books Critics Circle Award
The Birchbark House- National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Reviews:

The action is somewhat slow, but Erdrich's captivating tale of our seasons portrays a deep appreciation of our environment, our history, and our Native American sisters and brothers.-School Library Journal

 Grades 5-8. As Erdrich said about The Birchbark House, her research into her ancestors revealed the horrifying history and also a culture rich, funny, and warm. In this heartrending novel the sense of what was lost is overwhelming.- Booklist, starred review

Book #2

Bibliography:

Cushman, Karen. Rodzina. New York: Dell Yearling, 2003. 

ISBN:  0-440-41993-X

1. Character and Plot:

This novel of the gilded age set in 1881 is based on the real life effort to save the many orphaned children of this dangerous industrial era in the United States.  Many immigrant families soon learned that the fast paced lifestyle of the industrial north was not the best place for family or children. Often parents and children fell victim to the harsh consequences of heavy industry which often resulted in alcoholism and even death.  Death occurred for many reasons including: lung cancer caused by poor air quality, alcoholism, and dangerous work environments. This was only made worse by the fact that people worked 12 to 16 hours a day.  Rodzina Brodski is the 12 year old Polish immigrant girl who tells the story of what might have happened to some of the orphaned children of the Gilded Age in American history. Her story begins on the streets of Chicago were she is found and taken by the city's Orphan Asylum who then put her on board a train. The orphan's only guidance comes from two adults named Mr. Szprot and Miss Doctor.

2. Setting and Theme:

The "orphan trains" as they were called became a way for these orphans to find new homes in the vast new territories of the recently acquired West.  The setting in the train is at first a negative experience for all of the orphans who have no idea what fate awaits them.  They are set to embark on an adventure that will take them into the far reaches of the western half of the United States. As Rodzina describes this event:

No, I surely did not want to get on the train, but the crowd of orphans shoved me onward. The long black wool stockings they'd given me at the orphan home itched something fierce, and pausing midway up the steps, I bent down to scratch my knees. Three orphans knocked right into me.

"You, Polish Girl," said Mr. Szprot, his voice even louder than his jacket, "try not to be so clumsy." 

From Chicago, Rodzina's train ride will take her to the territories of Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and finally,  California. The West of the 1880's was still very well preserved in its natural state where Native American Indians still roamed. 

3. Style and Additional Criterion:

Karen Cushman develops a relationship with these orphans that warms the heart. The desperation of the times rings through on page after page of this American historical novel.   With the exception of Mr. Szprot, each character's life story unravels and provides an explanation of how they became the unique individuals that they are. Cushman takes into account the many different scenarios that would put this group of orphans and service providers in each other's lives.  Cushman also explains that the orphan trains began in New York City with the minister Charles Loring Brace in 1853. Brace's "placing-out" agency was called the Children's Aid Society and was established with the goal of saving the orphans. Unfortunately, it often resulted in many of the children falling victim to abusive households and mistreatment. The Children's Aid Society was funded by private donations, churches and charitable organizations.  Almost all of the orphans were white and Christian because they were the most likely to be placed in homes. 

4. Awards and Recognition:

Rodzina is a Newberry Medal winner as are many of Karen Cushman's novels.

Reviews:

  Engaging characters, a vivid setting, and a prickly but endearing heroine...first-person narrative captures....personality and spirit... poignancy, humor. - School Library Journal

A natural for American history or social studies classes...especially interesting as a women's history title... a great story. - Booklist, starred review 

Rodzina is prickly, stubborn, and heart-sore but she's also honest, likable and smart...Enough unpredictability to nicely unsettle expectations. - The Horn Book

Book #3

Bibliography:

Schmidt, Gary D.  The Wednesday Wars. New York: Clarion Books, 2007. 

ISBN: 978-0-618-72483-3

1. Character and Plot:

Holling Hoodhood and his 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, are supposed to be adversaries. At least that is what Holling figured, after his first day in her classroom. On this day Holling finds out that she and he would be spending each Wednesday afternoon together while the rest of the class goes to religious studies. His religious practice does not require him to attend religious studies classes. Holling just knows that his teacher hates him, especially when she assigns him to read Shakespeare's plays. His situation is made a little bit worse when no one in family will acknowledge his desperate situation. Especially Dad, who would very much like to sign an architectural contract with Mrs. Baker's family business. So now it is up to Holling to improve his situation with Mrs. Baker all on his own.  The nine month relationship between the two will grow and each phase of that growth seems to coincide with the themes of Shakespeare's plays.  

2. Setting and Theme:

The place is Long Island, New York and the middle school is Camillo Junior High, which is a K-8 school. The counter culture and anti-war sentiment (Vietnam and Cold War) do not evade this suburban neighborhood which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from New York City.  And though Dad and Mom watch Walter Cronkite each and every evening, 12 year old 7th graders who believe that their teacher hates them can only give minimal attention to world events such as this. The tumultuous events of history at this time do not escape Holling's notice, but he is able to properly address them. For example, May was "Atomic Bomb Awareness Month" at Camillo Junior High as it had been for the six previous years.  He sees the drill as pointless and describes it like this:

But we followed the government's drill procedures precisely and stayed under our desks for eighteen minutes, until the wind would have whisked away the first waves of airborne radioactive particles, and the blast of burning air would have passed overheard, and the mushroom cloud would no longer be expanding, and every living thing would have been incinerated except for us because we were scrunched under our gummy desks with our hands over our heads, breathing quietly and evenly.

 It makes sense that this book only briefly touches upon the historical events of 1967-68 history, since they are important and would have been subjects discussed. The age group of Holling and his friends would only give the complex issue of the Vietnam War, for example, minimal acknowledgement because that would be appropriate behavior for their age group. After all, what they really need to know about war and history has already occurred in Shakespeare's plays. The message to learn here is not to repeat that history.

3. Style and Additional Criterion:

Author Gary D. Schmidt has written a very engaging historical novel that makes reference to political, social, and pop cultural history. 1968's most popular Yankees such as Mickey Mantle and Joe Pepitone make a few appearances in the book.  Perhaps though, it is the relationship that grows between Holling and Mrs. Baker that will keep the reader's interest.  The very wholesome quality of the characters could have placed the book in several other time periods with only historical event changes.

4. Awards and Recognition:
Gary D. Schmidt is a recipient of the 2008 Newbery Honor medal honoree for The Wednesday Wars.

Reviews:

...Schmidt has a way of getting to the emotional heart of every scene without overstatement, allowing the reader and Holling to understand the great truths revolving around them on their own terms.- Kirkus

...As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation-the Big M- in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself. -Goodreads

...There are many strands in this story... I wondered whether all of the seeds Schmidt planted could flower... To his great credit, they do. - Tanya L. Stone New York Times